The mass spectrometer was created from the idea of a famous physicist named JJ Thomson, and his experiment known as the charge to mass ratio. Thomson used electric fields to determine the charge to mass ratio of electrons. The Mass Spectrometer was then created because it was a useful tool that helped identitify a particle through its own charge to mass ratio, (like a fingerprint), with its uniqueness. A mass spectrometer is a very important tool for science, medicine and industry.
Many mass spectrometers are made up of four stage process enclosed in a vaccuum chamber:
Ionization: The gas becomes heated to break it down into smalled components, so they are easier to identify. Then the neutralized compands are ionized, allowing them to respond to electric and magnetic fields. Sometimesthe ion source knocks one or two electrons off the compound, which produce a proton or positive ion.
Acceleration: High- voltage plates accelerate a beam of these ions into the velocity sector. Showing the acceleration selection in this applet as well as explaining how to calculate kinetic energy:
Velocity Selection: The velocity selector has crossed electric and magnetic fields leaving ions with a speed of velocity = Electric Field/Magnetic Field. Ions that deflect away from the entrance are ones that are moving at speeds that are to slow or to quickly. Thus all ions moving into the next stage of the mass spectrometer have all equivalent speeds. Showing the velocity selection in this applet:
Detection: A uniform magnetic field in the detection chamber makes an ion travel in circular paths. The radius of each path depends on the charge to mass of the ion. Ions that arrive at the detector produce a current that is porportional to the number of ions. The mass spectrometer can produce a graph of all the charge to mass ratios for a sample by moving the detector or by varying the electric field strengths. Showing when it enters the detection chamber and is moving in a circular motion through an applet as well as explaining how to calculate force and radius:
All through out this process it allows you to identify what a certian particle is, an element, it is used throughout the world to help many scientists and it was all thanks to JJ Thompson.
Mass Spectrometer
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The mass spectrometer was created from the idea of a famous physicist named JJ Thomson, and his experiment known as the charge to mass ratio. Thomson used electric fields to determine the charge to mass ratio of electrons. The Mass Spectrometer was then created because it was a useful tool that helped identitify a particle through its own charge to mass ratio, (like a fingerprint), with its uniqueness. A mass spectrometer is a very important tool for science, medicine and industry.
Many mass spectrometers are made up of four stage process enclosed in a vaccuum chamber:
Ionization: The gas becomes heated to break it down into smalled components, so they are easier to identify. Then the neutralized compands are ionized, allowing them to respond to electric and magnetic fields. Sometimesthe ion source knocks one or two electrons off the compound, which produce a proton or positive ion.
Acceleration: High- voltage plates accelerate a beam of these ions into the velocity sector. Showing the acceleration selection in this applet as well as explaining how to calculate kinetic energy:
http://webphysics.davidson.edu/physlet_resources/bu_semester2/
Velocity Selection: The velocity selector has crossed electric and magnetic fields leaving ions with a speed of velocity = Electric Field/Magnetic Field. Ions that deflect away from the entrance are ones that are moving at speeds that are to slow or to quickly. Thus all ions moving into the next stage of the mass spectrometer have all equivalent speeds. Showing the velocity selection in this applet:
http://webphysics.davidson.edu/physlet_resources/bu_semester2/
Detection: A uniform magnetic field in the detection chamber makes an ion travel in circular paths. The radius of each path depends on the charge to mass of the ion. Ions that arrive at the detector produce a current that is porportional to the number of ions. The mass spectrometer can produce a graph of all the charge to mass ratios for a sample by moving the detector or by varying the electric field strengths. Showing when it enters the detection chamber and is moving in a circular motion through an applet as well as explaining how to calculate force and radius:
http://webphysics.davidson.edu/physlet_resources/bu_semester2/
All through out this process it allows you to identify what a certian particle is, an element, it is used throughout the world to help many scientists and it was all thanks to JJ Thompson.
by Heather Massicotte
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_spectrometry
http://webphysics.davidson.edu/physlet_resources/bu_semester2/